Act III: Backward Engineering Your Script/Project - Do's and Don'ts

Act 3 should be the home stretch of your screeplay -- but it is important that your movie end with something that ties everything up, makes the audience wish there was more, and often leaves them with questions that make them want to see it again. Casablanca is a movie that has one of the greatest endings in all of Hollywood's history, effecively tying up the story and making us feel, eighty years out, the need to fight evil forces. On the other hand, there are some movies which, likely because of bad tests, now are saddled with endings that do not seem appropriate. Finally, we cover the case of Fatal Attraction, where a seemingly bad ending was just what the audience wanted... and got! To the tune of one of the biggest hits of the year. As William Goldman says, "nobody knows anything." But we try...